This morning our sight-seeing programme began in earnest. To start with tho’, we went to the Beijing Hotel for breakfast. The main reason was that we heard they had an all you can eat buffet for 4Y. Accordingly, we dragged ourselves from our beds at some impossible hour in order to arrive there in plenty of time to pack loads in. We made a right mess of things, however, when we went to the wrong dining room, where we rec’d a perfectly adequate Western breakfast, tho, not one which allowed us to make enormous pigs of ourselves.
However, thus fortified, we tackled, first off, the Forbidden City. Perhaps the stripping ot its treasures by various groups along the passage of time was to blame, but we were underwhelmed. It had nothing of the magnificent splendour we had expected, such as in, say, Bangkok’s Royal palace; it was, in fact, rather drab. We plodded dutifully from palace to palace, getting nothing from it really. It was only when we ventured off the main central thoroughfare to explore some of the other, less well-visited palaces, that we were more impressed, but then the weeds shoving their way up between the flagstones saddened us. Not, we thought, wonderfully enlightening.
Just outside the North Gate, we bought tickets for a bus tour to the Great Wall on Friday, then went to Beihai Park – we still had plenty of time, as the palaces had taken very little time. But Beihai Park too was disappointingly dull, (tho’ perhaps – frightening thought – the dullness is within ourselves.) There is a large lake dominating the park, with a white dagoba (Buddhist spire) on a high island in the middle. We considered joining the hundreds of others who had hired rowboats, until we saw the queue, so walked across the bridge to the island, climbed up to the temple, then descended again via a steep covered way. We walked out of the park along a shady footpath along the side of the lake, pleasant, but to our jaded palates, dull.
It was only when we had left the park + were about to get on a bus – had, indeed, one foot on the step – that we discovered that we (or, to apportion blame with strict accuracy, Val) had left the camera sitting on a rock where we had taken a rest. She immediately dashed off, quickly followed by me, both of us running thro’ the various problems its complete disappearance would entail as we ran thro’ the park (Val even paid to re-enter the park!) All was not lost, however; before I could catch Val up, she was walking back towards me with it slung over one shoulder. So, rather than a long + rather embarrassing visit to Public Security, we still had time to take in another site, the Lama Temple (or Yang Si Gong) in the NE of the city.
This was the most minor of the morning’s attractions, but easily the one we enjoyed most. It was a Tibetan temple complex, so similar in many ways to the one at Taersi. But while we had found that one gloomy, dusty, + dingy, this was airy-fresh. It was, of course, newly restored, whereas Taersi had not been; plus, Taersi was still a working monastery, so more “authentic”, but we both felt that Yang Si Gong had a more exultant atmosphere. But we look at it, of course, with the eyes of Westerners, accustomed to the light + airy spaces of cathedrals + churches.
From there we went to the Friendship Store for a bite of lunch, where by chance we ran into D + L. They were on their way to the pool at the International Club, which for them has become their regular afternoon haunt – they’ve been there every afternoon after the first. We too were on our way there, attracted by what they’d told us about it yesterday, so we went together. We passed a wonderfully sociable + pleasant afternoon by the pool. We had some fun messing about on the 3 diving boards, the highlight being when first I, then David, brought ourselves to jump from the top board. He had not been able to manage to leap from it till now, + I think it was his reticence which gave me the impetus to hurl myself into the void. I know the boards mesmerised me from the moment I saw them, so I adopted the principle of doing what one fears, + determined to conquer them all. From that point on, I couldn’t properly relax until the deed was done, with my heart beating faster + faster. The feeling when it was done was fabulous, relief + achievement mixed. (Even tho, in reality, the achievement wasn’t much – all that one had to do was jump, + there was only one way to go.)
In the evening, we went together to the Sichuan Restaurant, world-renowned yet still comfortably within our budget. D + L had been there once before, + had had no problem getting a table, so it was a bit of a blow when we discovered the place to be absolutely packed. After a short time, however, we were able to find a corner of a table to squeeze onto. The meal was quite wonderful, the best we’ve had in China, + amazingly cheap. As was the beer – we were soon happily pissed. Dropped in at the fast-food place down the street for some ice-cream, then back on the bus to watch the Chinese women’s volleyball team win the gold medal, beating the USA. Wonderful stuff.
And after some pretty dull days, this was full-on, visiting lots of places, but also finding time for fun and food.
